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Best Comics You’ve Never Heard Of: Spider-Woman

Chances are you’ve heard of her. She’s a tough secret agent who became an Avenger. Now she’s one of the premiere female superheroes not just at Marvel but in comics today. She had her own series, and while it only lasted seven issues, they were seven epic, thrilling, incredible issues.

Her life in and out of comics have been some of the craziest and most reconned of all characters. During the event “Secret Invasion” she was replaced by the Skrull Queen. Upon her return she is met with unfounded mistrust and distance by her teammates. So when she gets an offer from Agent Brand of S.W.O.R.D. (Don’t worry about the acronym, it’s for alien watching on Earth) to hunt down all the Skrulls still left in the world, she takes it. As she works to save the world and punch some of her issues she runs across an evil remnant from her past. There’s more to her very muddled past that she could fathom and when Madam Viper joins the fray you know it’s never going to end well.

Who else could do something this great for a generic Marvel character but Brian Michael Bendis. His love for the character is long known. After brining her (or rather the Skrull Queen) in for “New Avengers” it really shows with this series. It’s a Bond movie in comic form. Spider-Woman has to get taken through the ringer just to do a little of her job. Nothing comes easy in this series. But as a super-hero/secret agent she’s used to it. Bendis’ characterization for SW is wonderful. She’s just returned from months to find a world that doesn’t trust her face. She sets off to get her own retribution and maybe learn more about herself that she thought possible. Alex Maleev’s really shows off his experimental side with this book and it works so well it’s hard to read the words. All you want to do is look at the pictures. The only reason it lasted seven issues and not more was the sheer amount of time that was being put into the art was daunting. When something like that is happening you know it’s special. The combination of Bendis and Maleev is always a must read and “Spider-Woman” is on the top of that list.